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Jan 25
Love2

How to Build a Better Outdoor Pizza Oven

By Cob Building, Cob Oven
Build a Better Outdoor Pizza Oven

Learn how to build this outdoor oven in this new how-to

Several years ago, I wrote about how to build (the now-infamous) $20 outdoor cob oven. That oven I built worked decently, produced a lot of delicious meals, and advanced my pizza baking fever to new heights. Since then, we’ve built several more outdoor pizza ovens, and each of them has been a great improvement upon the original.

This newer model is slightly bigger, allowing for easier access to the oven interior, it has even more food baking potential, and the insulation is vastly superior. This sucker gets hot, and stays hot… for a long, long time. The oven has a small roof shelter, protecting it against the weather, and a chimney keeps smoke out of the face of the fire tender. Best of all… the oven is still very inexpensive to build.

This is a very achievable, low cost, and effective oven that will not cost you thousands of dollars to build. Here’s a look at the new and improved outdoor pizza oven plans and how you can build your own.

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Jan 23
Love0

New Cob Oven How-to Series Coming Soon!

By Cob Oven

coboven-sandformMore than four years after I posted my how to build your own cob oven for $20, it is still the most popular entry on The Year of Mud. Clearly there is a big audience out there interested in building DIY backyard ovens. Gotta love that.

Since building several other ovens after the original $20 incarnation, however, we’ve made some significant improvements to our design, increasing the efficiency, the ease of use, and the baking potential. Needless to say, it’s hard for me to recommend the outline for the former design, because the new oven is so much superior.

I have finally begun an updated series on how to build a better cob oven, which I will begin posting next week. If you’re dreaming about projects you can do once spring rolls around, be sure to tune back in!

Update: Here’s where you can find the Better Outdoor Pizza Oven Plans!

Jan 18
Love0

Winter is for Making New Windsor Chairs

By Woodworking
Sack Back Windsor Chair 01

Up close look at one of the new sack back Windsor chairs

During our recent annual winter pilgrimage to Greg’s shop, I made two new Windsor chairs for our growing collection. The first year, I started with a simple hoop back, and last year I made a continuous arm Windsor. This winter, however, I decided to make two chairs simultaneously — both sack backs. This proved to be a really valuable learning lesson for me. Doing two at the same time really cemented in some of those many detailed steps more firmly. It was twice the practice in one go.

Here are the results.

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Jan 13
Love0

How To Hang Curtains in Your Straw Bale House

By Straw Bale Building, Strawtron, Winter
Thermal Curtains

Properly designing for thermal curtains results in a tidier look, and no loss of your view through the window

Though not often discussed, curtains are an important design consideration for any energy efficient house. Specifically, thermal curtains are the way to go if you want to help keep your house warm in winter (and cool in the summer), and save energy for heating and cooling. These insulative curtains require some forethought, and in a natural building such as a straw bale house with recessed windows, it’s important to think about how to hang curtains and curtain rods before your house is even ready to live in. How you decide to hang your curtains and rods will affect your window framing and trim, so you really want to plan ahead to ensure the most functional and aesthetically appealing result.

Here’s how we designed the windows in our straw bale house specifically for heavy thermal curtains.
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Jan 06
Love0

2014 in Review: A Chockablock Year

By Wood Carving, Natural Building Workshops, Cob Oven, Photos, Timber Framing, Strawtron, Woodworking

outdoor-pizza-ovenI can hardly recall such a dynamic, diverse year as 2014. 2014 marked a transition year for April and I, and I’m happy to say that it was a smooth one. It was our first year living in the Berea, Kentucky area, having left Dancing Rabbit in the fall of 2013. This move was not an insignificant event, as I spent seven full and formative years in the northeast Missouri ecovillage.

I like to think back on the year past and try to remember all that has happened — maintaining this blog is actually an important way for me to be able to do that. It’s as much about documenting what we’re up to as it is a way for me to preserve some of life’s countless details. Here I’ll share some of the notable events and experiences of 2014, the year of our transition into a new life outside of Berea, Kentucky.

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Jan 02
Love0

Building a Cherry Shaker Blanket Chest

By Woodworking

Cherry Shaker Blanket Chest PlansWhen April mentioned the idea of building a little chest this winter, I thought, “Sure… that would be fun. Maybe we can use it like a coffee table, too. You know, throw books and our feet up on it.” Needless to say, I didn’t quite have the expectation of building a bomb-proof, beautiful piece of furniture.

Once we got the bug in our heads, and once Greg started showing off his amazing cherry wood supply, things started looking a bit different. We ended up finding a set of Shaker blanket chest plans we really liked, and all of a sudden the outlook was looking a lot more refined than I would have originally imagined.
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Dec 29
Love0

Way Too Much Woodworking Fun

By Woodworking
Oiling the Cherry Shaker Blanket Chest

Ziggy oils the newly finished Shaker-style blanket chest

We’ve been having way too much fun for the past two weeks. April, Jacob, and I just spent the latter half of December with our great friend Greg Pennington of Hendersonville, TN. Greg is a world class Windsor chairmaker with a killer timber frame workshop to boot. When we met two winters ago, Greg graciously invited April and I to make chairs with him and so began on winter woodworking tradition. Since then we’ve learned a lot of new woodworking skills under his most expert guidance (though he would never claim any of his amazing skills as such himself.) This trip, we embarked on a pretty ambitious series of projects, which I’ll preview here!

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Dec 23
Love0

Free Straw Bale Building Book for Download

By Straw Bale Building

Built it With Bales BookBuild It With Bales is a straw bale building classic, published in 1997. Though the book is a bit older now, it still has plenty of good information. (There are a couple of dated pieces of advice in there.)

The Last Straw has made a PDF download of the book available for free online (click here to view). Check it out if you’re interested — there’s some good reading to be had. (Thanks to the Natural Building Blog for the heads-up.)

Dec 12
Love0

This Mayne Island Cob House is Stunning

By Cob Building, Photos
Mayne Island Cob House 00

This Mayne Island cob house is one of the most beautiful, built in 1999

This cob house is one of my favorites out there. Built by CobWorks and the Cob Cottage Company in 1999, it’s the first fully permitted cob house to be built in Canada, specifically on Mayne Island, BC. Read ahead for more beautiful photos of the home.

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Dec 07
Love0

Our Straw Bale House ‘Exterior Design’

By Strawtron, Lime Plaster, Straw Bale Building
Straw Bale House Exterior: West Side

The west side of our straw bale house

I’ve posted a goodly number of images of the interior of our straw bale house ‘Strawtron’, but fewer of the exterior. Here’s a few photos to peruse and some explanation for our ‘exterior design’ choices. Much of how we designed the exterior was based on the local climate, orientation to the sun, functionality, and aesthetics. I think the function, look, and feel of the exterior of the home is as important or more (in some cases) than the interior.
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